When new Colorado State football coach Steve Fairchild conducted his first full staff meeting Friday, it was as if Fairchild hosted a dinner party and was the only one in the room who knew every guest.
In the bigger scheme of coaching and recruiting, no one really needed name tags.
“It’s a little unique in the coaching fraternity, because one way or another we’ve met previously or known about each other,” said CSU wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Greg Peterson, who arrived in Fort Collins on Thursday.
Peterson and CSU defensive coordinator Larry Kerr battled head-to-head while recruiting in Colorado when Peterson was at Kansas State and Kerr combed the area during his 1993-2002 stint with the Rams.
“It will be fun to finally be on the same side,” Peterson said.
Peterson, who was at Washington State the last two years, made it clear Colorado will stay the top priority for the Rams.
“We will branch out,” he said, “but we’re still hammering the details of where we go. Colorado is the No. 1 priority. We’ll keep going to Texas. I like Arizona.”
California also will be mined for gems.
CSU’s coaching staff had an estimated dozen recruits in for the weekend. Many already had committed to CSU. One commitment solidified by CSU is from La Jolla (Calif.) High School defensive lineman Ja’Rod Watson, the younger brother of former Rams running back E.J. Watson.
Fairchild’s first trip to see the improvements at Hughes Stadium came when he took the Rams’ first group of recruits for dinner there. Many new staff members were making recruiting contacts before coming to Fort Collins late in the week.
“It made sense to hit the ground running before we came to campus, as well as economically speaking,” Peterson said. “We talked about the program; maybe we played against or recruited against CSU. We know what the university is about.”
Help from junior colleges will remain what Peterson described as a “need basis. We’ll build with high school players, the way CSU has always done.”
Poaching season.
A joke making the rounds on several Internet message boards involved this fictitious bumper sticker: “Honk if you’ve decommitted from Nebraska.”
Way down the food chain from Nebraska, CSU’s recruiting list has drawn plenty of outside interest despite the list being compiled during a 3-9 season.
The Rams’ in-state list appears intact. But two out-of-state prospects — cornerback Anthony Hooks of Phoenix and fullback/defensive lineman Jason Klingerman of San Diego — appear to have decommitted because of CSU’s coaching change.
Grandview’s Davis Burl, whose grandfather Alex Burl was a football and track standout during the early 1950s at CSU, said Kansas State and Utah made inquiries during the Rams’ coaching vacancy.
“They were talking to see what I thought and if I changed my mind,” Burl said. “When Coach (Sonny) Lubick stepped down, I knew another coach would come in and take care of things.”
Chatfield coach Bret McGatlin said of early CSU commitment Andy Clement, a safety: “One school called and said if he’s not interested in CSU anymore to please call.”
Then there are recruits who can’t make up their minds. They commit, decommit and commit again elsewhere or back to their first choice of schools.
Josh Williams, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive end from Denton, Texas, committed to Nebraska, then decommitted and named Colorado as his choice. Now he is back in the Nebraska camp.
AFA update.
Although Air Force isn’t bound by the NCAA letter-of-intent program, the Falcons recently picked up a three-star commitment in West Covina (Calif.) South Hills defensive tackle Kebin Umodu. But as an example of why you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet about recruiting, a headline says “Cali DL is WAC-bound.”
